low risk situation... maybe being closer to home can ease some anxiety issues? I don't know. But who knows, maybe he gets some decent pitching back in his game. I think the giants are afraid to trade sanchez because there is nobody in line to take his spot.

Bumgarner is already better than Sanchez - I bet Bumgarner moves up to 4th by the end of the season and sanchez is gone by next year at least and Bumgarner is our no. 4. Who would be no. 5? Joe Martinez maybe? kind of a shaky showing for him earlier this year...

JREED23 wrote:Bumgarner is already better than Sanchez - I bet Bumgarner moves up to 4th by the end of the season and sanchez is gone by next year at least and Bumgarner is our no. 4. Who would be no. 5? Joe Martinez maybe? kind of a shaky showing for him earlier this year...

Martinez is a good guy, but not a very good pitcher. His career is in long relief.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Giants have signed former 20-game winner Dontrelle Willis to a minor league contract.

The team announced the deal with the Bay Area native Thursday. Willis had been designated for assignment by the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier this month. In six games with Arizona, Willis was 1-1 with a 6.85 ERA and 27 walks in 22 1/3 innings.

Willis was traded from the Detroit Tigers to Arizona in June. The Tigers are still paying the bulk of his $12 million salary.

Willis won the NL Rookie of the Year in 2003, made two All-Star teams and won 22 games one season for the Florida Marlins. He helped the Marlins win the World Series in 2003. But he is 13-24 with a 5.81 ERA since the start of the 2007 season.

Win-win for Willis and the Giants. If he comes back respectable he could be big for us. I'm not thinking he'll ever regain his 20-game winning form, but perhaps he could come back and pitching in the no. 4 or 5 slot for us and still have a decent career.

So reading the paper today i see they are treating him as a left handed specialist out of the pen. I wonder if thats their goal or just a starting point. I wonder if they want to evaluate him to see if he could start.

Anyway, great win last night, Timmy is awesome when he can locate that fastball. When he can't the hitters can wait on the changeup. Big shutout, we need zito to step it up and the bats need to be better.

No Longer StuckInSoCal wrote:Dontrelle Willis's troubles, apparently, may be the Giants gain.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Giants have signed former 20-game winner Dontrelle Willis to a minor league contract.

The team announced the deal with the Bay Area native Thursday. Willis had been designated for assignment by the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier this month. In six games with Arizona, Willis was 1-1 with a 6.85 ERA and 27 walks in 22 1/3 innings.

Willis was traded from the Detroit Tigers to Arizona in June. The Tigers are still paying the bulk of his $12 million salary.

Willis won the NL Rookie of the Year in 2003, made two All-Star teams and won 22 games one season for the Florida Marlins. He helped the Marlins win the World Series in 2003. But he is 13-24 with a 5.81 ERA since the start of the 2007 season.

Win-win for Willis and the Giants. If he comes back respectable he could be big for us. I'm not thinking he'll ever regain his 20-game winning form, but perhaps he could come back and pitching in the no. 4 or 5 slot for us and still have a decent career.

I really think the signing of Willis is the the first domino to drop on an eventual trade of Sanchez. Willis will give the Giants a decent enough #5 starter to go along with the rest of that killer staff. Sanchez can bring a bat to the bay, which would be huge for the Giants in their run at the Pads.

No Longer StuckInSoCal wrote:Dontrelle Willis's troubles, apparently, may be the Giants gain.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Giants have signed former 20-game winner Dontrelle Willis to a minor league contract.

The team announced the deal with the Bay Area native Thursday. Willis had been designated for assignment by the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier this month. In six games with Arizona, Willis was 1-1 with a 6.85 ERA and 27 walks in 22 1/3 innings.

Willis was traded from the Detroit Tigers to Arizona in June. The Tigers are still paying the bulk of his $12 million salary.

Willis won the NL Rookie of the Year in 2003, made two All-Star teams and won 22 games one season for the Florida Marlins. He helped the Marlins win the World Series in 2003. But he is 13-24 with a 5.81 ERA since the start of the 2007 season.

Win-win for Willis and the Giants. If he comes back respectable he could be big for us. I'm not thinking he'll ever regain his 20-game winning form, but perhaps he could come back and pitching in the no. 4 or 5 slot for us and still have a decent career.

I really think the signing of Willis is the the first domino to drop on an eventual trade of Sanchez. Willis will give the Giants a decent enough #5 starter to go along with the rest of that killer staff. Sanchez can bring a bat to the bay, which would be huge for the Giants in their run at the Pads.

That was my first though as well. I sort of hope its true. Not sure what sanchez gets you though, everybody knows how inconsistent he is.

No Longer StuckInSoCal wrote:Dontrelle Willis's troubles, apparently, may be the Giants gain.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Giants have signed former 20-game winner Dontrelle Willis to a minor league contract.

The team announced the deal with the Bay Area native Thursday. Willis had been designated for assignment by the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier this month. In six games with Arizona, Willis was 1-1 with a 6.85 ERA and 27 walks in 22 1/3 innings.

Willis was traded from the Detroit Tigers to Arizona in June. The Tigers are still paying the bulk of his $12 million salary.

Willis won the NL Rookie of the Year in 2003, made two All-Star teams and won 22 games one season for the Florida Marlins. He helped the Marlins win the World Series in 2003. But he is 13-24 with a 5.81 ERA since the start of the 2007 season.

Win-win for Willis and the Giants. If he comes back respectable he could be big for us. I'm not thinking he'll ever regain his 20-game winning form, but perhaps he could come back and pitching in the no. 4 or 5 slot for us and still have a decent career.

I really think the signing of Willis is the the first domino to drop on an eventual trade of Sanchez. Willis will give the Giants a decent enough #5 starter to go along with the rest of that killer staff. Sanchez can bring a bat to the bay, which would be huge for the Giants in their run at the Pads.

That was my first though as well. I sort of hope its true. Not sure what sanchez gets you though, everybody knows how inconsistent he is.

He may be able to get your Cory Hart....or possibly Jose Bautista from Toronto with a marginal prospect.

I don't really want the "quick fix" this year. If we're going to trade Sanchez, I'd rather it be for a piece during the off-season when we're building instead of a bandaide--who, might I add, may only be a first half fluke and may not do well at Pac Bell.

No Longer StuckInSoCal wrote:I don't really want the "quick fix" this year. If we're going to trade Sanchez, I'd rather it be for a piece during the off-season when we're building instead of a bandaide--who, might I add, may only be a first half fluke and may not do well at Pac Bell.

I don't think this team is a Corey Hart away from an NL West title.

I disagree... i think we might be. I'm just not sold on sanchez, the guy can barely get you 6 innings per start. I just don't get it with him. We see what he is, great stuff but will labor through 5 innings. Not a great pitcher, and if it can give us another bat, i'm all for it. Doubt he would get a good long term piece for the Giants in the offseason.

No Longer StuckInSoCal wrote:I don't really want the "quick fix" this year. If we're going to trade Sanchez, I'd rather it be for a piece during the off-season when we're building instead of a bandaide--who, might I add, may only be a first half fluke and may not do well at Pac Bell.

I don't think this team is a Corey Hart away from an NL West title.

I disagree... i think we might be. I'm just not sold on sanchez, the guy can barely get you 6 innings per start. I just don't get it with him. We see what he is, great stuff but will labor through 5 innings. Not a great pitcher, and if it can give us another bat, i'm all for it. Doubt he would get a good long term piece for the Giants in the offseason.

Yeah, well, I can dig it. I don't like bandaides unless they're like the old school "rentals" when a team could trade for Fred McGriff (a la the Braves in 92 or whenever it was). I don't mind Hart as a player, but I hate trading for guys at peak value, especially when we play in a pitcher friendly park and the hitter plays in a very hitter friendly park.

If we were going to add Hart, I'd rather do it in the off-season so we could have him for a full 162. When we make these moves at the deadline, sometimes they're only around a few weeks before the Giants are totally out of it, making the trade pointless. By waiting until the end of the season to move Sanchez we can at least see Hart's full year of work, not just his hot start.

EDIT: Hart will enter his final year of salary arbitration next year, and he will probably near $10 million based on his numbers this year. Having him locked up for an extra year is good--what isn't is that, if we trade for him, we'll be paying arbitration on him based on inflated stats vs. what he hit in SF.

Comon guys, I mean he made a classic song back in the early 80's but how is he going to help us win games?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLEuWEvH5GIOk bad joke... Seriously, I would give sanchez up 100 times over for Hart! And I believe we are a playoff team and a contender with him in our line up. But I doubt Sanchez is enough, Cain will be the guy they want and I don't know how I feel about that... Maybe if Sanchez can be more consistent and if Bumgarner is as good as I believe he is...

JREED23 wrote:Comon guys, I mean he made a classic song back in the early 80's but how is he going to help us win games?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLEuWEvH5GIOk bad joke... Seriously, I would give sanchez up 100 times over for Hart! And I believe we are a playoff team and a contender with him in our line up. But I doubt Sanchez is enough, Cain will be the guy they want and I don't know how I feel about that... Maybe if Sanchez can be more consistent and if Bumgarner is as good as I believe he is...

No on Cain, I'm willing to give up sanchez, because he consistently can't get through the 6th inning. Some teams are intrigued by his talent, but i'm sure they are also well aware of his inconsistencies.